Crowdsourcing, the church, evangelism and potato chips.

That's right, it's time once again for The StoryMen. This time, JR., Clay and I go solo (all three of us go solo? How is that possible?) without a special guest and have a great conversation about the popularity of crowd sourcing and social media and how that can be used to advance the Gospel, we do a potato chip taste testing and JR. invents THE MOST TERRIFYING BOARD GAME EVER.

You can listen here.

And here's where you can subscribe on iTunes.

And yes, we do discuss the issue of Batman on your left. Because we have to talk about Batman every episode (it's in our by-laws).

I have no excuse for this. I am weak. And now you must be subjected to: "Batman Maybe."

I don't know how this happens. I'm almost positive I had never heard the song "Call Me Maybe" before I started posting videos in which the song is sung by President Obama.

And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but this song does have spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises. So be warned.

Regardless, this video made me happier than it should have:

The Dark Knight blows his cover

I can't believe I still haven't seen this movie.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES takes over my blog's traffic statistics

I just noticed this today.

If you hate clowns, you'll love this

Remember when The Batman was hilarious? Ah, the good old days. NOW DANCE, BATMAN, DANCE!

I'm a bad father

My 2 year old came up to me today. There were three comic books sitting nearby. She pointed at the one I had in my hand and said, "That's Spider-Man."

I was shocked. I couldn't remember showing her anything about Spider-Man.

I held up a picture of Superman. "Do you know who this is?"

 She said, "Dunno."

 I showed her a picture of Batman. "Do you know who this is?"

"Dunno."

It's time to set up a superhero classroom around here.

The Dark Knight Rises (as portrayed by hot dogs)

Here's a complete re-shot of The Dark Knight Rises trailer, except all the people have been replaced with hot dogs.



I can't wait to see the feature length event this summer.

Snuggies for the super heroic set

I've never tried on a snuggie. They seem silly to me. I can just as easily wrap myself up, toga-style, in a blanket. Undoubtedly, since this is the Internet, some of you are wearing snuggles right now, and I'm open to being educated on this topic.

However, I thought this particular picture had some clear truth behind it:

Meanwhile, in Gotham City:

Awww, cute. Look at Robin lurking in the background. Seriously, how often do you see the Dark Knight kicking back and watching television. And what do you think he's watching?

Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Solitude:

And, of course, we need the WONDERTWINS:

WONDER TWIN POWERS... ACTIVATE! FORM OF... A SNUGGIE MOUNTAIN!

Is it only heroes who wear Snuggies? No, not at all:

And lastly, an outfit so snug and super heroic I decided it is not for the average viewer, so consider carefully whether you want to continue after the jump to see this. it's not for the weak of heart. Take courage, viewer. Once you see this, you can't unsee it. Don't click lightly. Be cautious. Your life will be irrevocably changed. I meant it. Be wise.

Important Spider-Man trivia to keep you safe from rabid Spider-Man Grammar Police

What with the new Spider-Man movie coming out, there are a lot of people talking about our friendly neighborhood Webhead. Since I care about YOU, the potentially brand-new-to-Spider-Man reader here at BHR, I thought it would be important to point out this little bit of punctuation-related trivia about Spider-Man's name: his name is Spider-hyphen-Man. Spider-Man. Not Spiderman. And if you get it wrong, geeks across the internet will make fun of you. Comics geeks and grammar geeks and (gasp of horror) Comics-Grammar-Geeks. The sort of people who like to write blog posts that say, "I found a mistake on the Internet."

 I know, I know, this probably shakes your world to the core and has you wondering, "What about Bat-Man or Super-Man? How deep does this particular grammar hole go?" Allow Geekdom to help you with this lovely piece of art from Cathy Leamy:

Why is this important now? Because this July Hollywood is re-setting the Spider-Man franchise with a new movie, starting out at the beginning with young Peter Parker in high school and his (original) girlfriend Gwen Stacy back in the picture. It actually looks pretty good. Check it out:

Wonderful Wednesday (?) : Batman Christmas Special!

I watched this and it made me laugh. It's so weird as to be nearly nonsensical, but it was funny. But also it was not quite, um, kosher. If Christmas can be described as kosher. Warning: if you have kids around you may want to preview this, as a certain antlered creature at the North Pole is done away with and a red-clad merry elf is looking a little less than well by the end. It's not a game, though. More of a music video.

Batman Christmas Special Finally finished with this one!

Play this free game now!!

Eavesdropping With Matt (Episode Sixty: If you're going to talk like a geek, at least get your facts straight)

Dedicated to the two guys sitting behind me at the Nutcracker ballet. An old guy and a young guy, equal in ignorance!

Guy #1: You know Superman and Batman?

*SPOLIER* I heard that in the new Batman movie,
Catwoman and Batman get married and have babies!
 I found this picture here.

Guy #2: Yeah. They are just beating super heroes into the ground with movies. Batman movies. What have there been now, three? They just, they just don't have any stories worth telling any more.
Guy #1: Are Superman and Batman from Marvel Comics or some other company?

Guy #2: They're all Marvel.

Guy #1: Not X-Men. They're Capcom.

Guy #2: Well, I do know that the Marvel comics, they used to have this whole family called The Marvel Family.

Guy #1: Oh yeah?

Guy #2: And the dad, Captain Marvel, he would always shout SHAZAM!

Then I turned around and shouted, STOP IT STOP IT YOU ARE HURTING MY HEART!

Superman vs the cops

Friend of the Revolution Ken sent us this link to a story about Superman using brute force against New York City police officers.

As always, Batman used his superior intelligence to sit nearby, handcuffed to a lawn chair.

Oh, Superman... it has all gone downhill for you since "Superman Lives."

On the bright side, that cop that is putting the cuffs on is going to be famous.

Batman in "Bombs Away!"

I can tell by looking out into the blogosphere that you all are feeling a little down, so I thought I would cheer you up with this 1960's Batman clip:



Batman loves ducklings.

Holy stratosphere, Batman! If we were only birds...

Krista and I should be on the plane for Australia right now... flying high above you all and hopefully awake for a few more hours to help with jet lag on the far side.

So it's terribly apropos that you watch this clip from the much beloved Batman television show. HOLY STRATOSPHERE!

The Wave of Batmania Continues

There's been a lot of rumors going around about the next Batman movie, which is just silly because the director hasn't even signed yet. So while we wait, here's yet more Dark Knight to tide you over:

Your Batman Fix For the Day

Since Dark Knight came out, I know a lot of you have been wishing you could watch a little more of the Dark Knight in action. Here's a great little five minute clip that should give you a fix for a while:



This is why I'm afraid of sharks.

The name game

You may have heard that UK youth George Garratt has changed his name to Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined.

Let us think about this critically. First of all, the Flash is clearly the fastest hero in this list, despite the occasional farcical race in which Superman ties him (yes, that's right, I am referring to Superman #199 and Flash #175). Let's be honest, here, the Barry Allen Flash could run at speeds approaching the speed of light... so that's pretty fast. Superman is a close second. However, Batman is an ordinary human being. So his speed would drastically lower the average. In fact, none of the others can come remotely near the speed of light. If we combined these six heroes together they would scarcely be able to break the sound barrier.

I will mention, however, that I had a small white stuffed cat in high school that we named using the same technique that Captain Fantastic Faster than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine The Hulk And The Flash Combined used. His name was Lyle Kyle Roscoe Shane Fuzzy Thing Jelly Doughnut Bat-cat Psycho Brain Gush.

P.S. Poor Captain Fantastic spelled his own name wrong. It's "Spider-Man" not "Spiderman." That's just sad for him.